Canadian Music Week sets records in Toronto

Canadian Music Week News Update from news@cmw

Unseasonably warm as it was outdoors, the interior heat was cranked to the red zone at Canadian Music Week and Canadian Music Fest this year.

Music industry and enthusiasts from around the globe came, saw and celebrated in record numbers. This year's festival rocked with more attendees, performers, venues, countries represented and media accredited than ever before.

Some highlights include:

Industry Delegates: 1,883

Attending Musicians: 3,565

Canadian Music Fest

Number of bands performing: 713

Number of participating venues: 58

# of Days: 5

Countries Represented: 23

Media Accredited: 654

The well-attended Digital Strategies Conference focused on effectively marketing products and services in the Digital Age and featured keynotes from Bob Garfield, Scott Fox, and Louise Clements. Our new OIART Mentor's Cafe Series, featuring over 50 industry movers and shakers over the course of three days, proved to be extremely popular with face-to-face encounters with the pros amidst our bustling exhibition district. Conference seminars in all streams - Executive Music, Radio Active, Digital Music & Media, and TuneUp - were jam packed with attendees looking to learn from a top-notch line-up of speakers. Burgeoning songwriters and musicians flocked to the Songwriters' Summit to get up close and personal with some of the world's leading songwriters, composers and publishers.

Continuing its international outreach, CMW 2010 presented the Spotlight on India, which provided an insider's look at the world's second fastest-growing economy and hosted an Indian Music Showcase over two nights. The International Marketplace played home to several visiting countries, including Australia, Botswana, China, Russia, Croatia, Italy, Germany, Hong Kong, Scotland, Finland, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, England, India, France, Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, and the USA, and hosted one-on-one dedicated matchmaking meetings with India and Australia. Canadian Music Week donated $5000 to Young Artists for Haiti at The Indies, and gave away an Epiphone guitar, courtesy of Gibson, autographed by Indie Awards performers, nominees and presenters in attendance, to lucky winner Mike Dobson who was in the audience sporting a "Young Artists for Haiti" T-shirt.

Jaime

A unique piece of Canadiana. Call for Sponsorship. Voyageur, the Six String Nation Guitar.

I'm a big fan of all things Canadian, including Canadian music and Canadian artists. Recently, while attending a concert where my daughter performed I came across Voyageur. When I learned about Voyageur I couldn't believe I had not heard from it before. Voyageur is a guitar. It was given this name by Lt. Col. Susan Beharriel who attended the ceremony launching the 2008 Festival du Voyageur in Winnipeg-St. Boniface. Voyageur was Jowi Taylor's idea. Jowi is an award winning writer and broadcaster who was inspired by the looming Quebec Referendum in 1995. The guitar is made out of wood from every part of Canada. Some pieces have significant cultural and historical value for Canadians. For example, there is a piece from a hockey stick used by Paul Henderson at the famous game against the Soviet Union (september 1972); a piece from former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's canoe paddle; and a piece of shelving from the office sideboard of Sir John A. Maconald, the first Prime Minister of Canada.

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Since 2006, Voyageur has travelled all over Canada and has been played by hundreds (if not thousands) of Canadians including stars and amateurs, most recently at the Canadian Voices Festival at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto. Jowi Taylor lent the guitar to the SongStudio songwriting workshop student showcase and allowed the students and faculty to play it. Here's a video of my daughter playing Voyageur and singing one of her songs:

Coincidentally, there is a Six String Nation Festival in Italy called "Un Paese de Sei Corde." Organizers of that festival learned about the Canadian Six String Nation and Voyageur. They have invited Jowi Taylor and his crew to take Voyageur to Italy and participate in the Festival. However, the Six String Nation organization has limited funds and they need to raise money for travel expenses. I think this is an excellent opportunity for Canadian tourism destinations or businesses to get some good visibility in Italy and to support a very worthy Canadian cultural initiative. Last year Canada received 106,000 visitors from Italy. I'm sure we can attract a lot more.

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The Federal Government recently cut a program to support travelling Canadian artists so organizations like Six String Nation need our support. In my opinion, it is these kinds of Canadian artistic projects that create conversational capital for Canada as a tourism destination. People may know about our mountains, lakes and wildlife. Many others may now be aware about our fantastic cities. But how many people know that Canadians not only love music, but that we are indeed a Six String Nation? Please visit the Six String Nation website and support Jowi and his crew with whatever you can. If you are interested in sponsoring the trip to Italy let me know and I can put you directly in touch with Jowi.
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Visit the Six String Nation website to learn more about Voyageur and how it helps bring Canadians together to celebrate the country through music.

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Jaime Horwitz MBA

the Canada en Español Network